Photo: Robert Nunnally (flickr user: gurdonark) · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Gurdon trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
Only 8% stay in Gurdon for work; outside it, Arkadelphia is the main destination (15%, 15 miles). The poverty rate is 17.2%, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. Jobs and income earn Gurdon D; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Gurdon: the figures worth knowing
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Gurdon than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Gurdon fell from 334 in 2013 to 219 in 2023, −34%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Gurdon are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 671 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Gurdon gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Gurdon is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Gurdon’s grade.
Unemployment (5.6%) is left out: Gurdon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Gurdon could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The commute from Gurdon, by distance
About 32% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Gurdon makes things: 35% of its jobs are in goods
219 jobs are based in Gurdon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gurdon, 2013 → 2023: 334 → 219. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Gurdon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Gurdon: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gurdon workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 658 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Arkansas: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Gurdon on a workday afternoon
On a workday 619 residents head out to work, 52 work right here, and 167 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Gurdon on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.33 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Gurdon: the destinations
Where Gurdon clocks in
15% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The commute in Gurdon is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gurdon is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 686 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 15.3% of Gurdon households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Gurdon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gurdon next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,003 | West Fork AR | 2,373 | $78K | 3.1% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,126 | Emporium PA | 1,781 | $43K | 14.6% | 8.2% | 37% | D |
| 5,127 | Yosemite Valley CA | 1,991 | $34K | 21.0% | 4.8% | 18% | D |
| 5,128 | Gurdon AR | 1,817 | $48K | 17.2% | 5.6% | 8% | D |
| 5,129 | Frazee MN | 1,310 | $47K | 22.3% | 7.1% | 6% | D |
| 5,130 | Hinckley MN | 1,992 | $51K | 19.7% | 6.8% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Gurdon, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Gurdon: questions
What is the median household income in Gurdon?
$47,587 (±$18,982) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gurdon?
17.2%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gurdon?
18 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gurdon work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Arkadelphia (15%, 15 mi), Little Rock (8%, 72 mi), Prescott (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gurdon walkable?
Gurdon is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gurdon without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gurdon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gurdon
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.